Words by David C. Obenour
Chris Corsano has performed alongside Paul Flaherty, Bill Orcutt, Ben Chasny, Sir Richard Bishop, Evan Parker, and countless others on more than 150 albums over his quarter century of performing music. His latest album under his own name is different.
Inspired by an instrument of his own making. Concepted in isolation over the pandemic. Performing each parts. Mixing those recordings himself. Even painting the album cover. He jokes that The Key (Became The Important Thing [& Then Just Faded Away]) might be considered a “self-portrait” after using a photograph of himself as part of a mixed medium. When art is this tightly curated, the joke might be more of a redirect from misguided interpretations but the personal touches are undoubtedly all over these tracks.
Off Shelf: You maintain quite the busy dance card of incredible collaborators, how did this project become a priority amidst everything else you have going on?
Chris Corsano: This record came together in 2020, so the pandemic definitely had a lot to do with the focus on a solo project. My first solo record was done in 2006 and every few years I’ll release another one with the idea that each one is a snapshot of where I’m at during that point and time. I thought it might be an interesting format to revisit.
OS: Can you track the trajectory of it? From initial conception to finalized creation, how has it evolved?
CC: Well, five of the six tracks were recorded and mixed in 2020. I was working a lot with the rubber string stretched across the snare in 2020; investigating approaches to combine melodic and rhythmic playing. At the same time, I was playing guitar and bass just for my own enjoyment. I thought the string sounded a little bit like a bass and that maybe there was a way to make a record that was a bridge between things: freely improvised solo percussion pieces connected to multi-tracked guitar/bass/drums tracks which still have improvisation in them, but are definitely coming more from a rock context.
OS: As a composer, how do you feel your approach to the songs is different as a drummer? What about your principal instrument helps inform that?
CC: I don’t think I approached the songs as a “drummer” necessarily. When I have a bass in my hands, I’m a bassist. Guitar, guitarist. In fact, I’d say that on two of the three tracks that have overdubs, the drums are the thing designed to exist the furthest in the background.
I do try to have a strong sense of melody when drumming, though. So it followed that the guitar and bass playing would try to have a strong rhythmic sense.
OS: Performing each part of the recording, the songs on The Key (Became The Important Thing [& Then Just Faded Away]) are entirely you. What did you like about the total control of performing every part for this album?
CC: It wasn’t the sense of control that I was after. In fact, feeling too much control seems to kill the spark of it all for me. But what I did like about recording all the parts was that the only thing that mattered is to make sure whatever I played fit the song as best as it could. I mean, that’s true too when you play with other people, but I think there’s sometimes a worry about stepping on somebody else’s toes.
OS: You also mixed the record yourself. Having worked on so many recordings, what approach do you feel you were able to follow that better captured the songs you had envisioned?
CC: Whenever you mix a record that you’re playing on with other people, it can be a little tricky. Do you think the drums need to be louder because that’s what the song needs, or is your ego showing? Stuff like that. Some records I’ve mixed have been criticized for the drums being too quiet. I feel way better about that complaint than the reverse – mixing yourself too loud seems like a real egomaniac move! [laughs] But when you’re mixing multiple instruments all played by yourself, that’s not really a problem. If the bass sounds too loud, it’s honestly because that’s the way I felt the music sounded – because of taste and not because of ego.
OS: You painted the album cover too. What did you like about this additional level of self-expression? How do you feel the art welcomes the listener in?
CC: I started painting a lot also in 2020. Mostly as another outlet of expression during the pandemic when touring was impossible. I liked mixing all these forms – painting, multi-tracking instruments I’m not really known for playing, along with my “usual” form on drums. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time to get the most complete and/or complex picture possible of where I was at, at that time. The picture of my face on the cover felt like an inside joke – probably only to myself – like the record was some kind of self-portrait.
OS: Is there a DIY aesthetic that you were looking to embody on the record? What about that is important to you?
CC: Absolutely. That is 100% central to the record. It’s important to me because it’s part of what I love about a lot of different music – idiosyncratic creativity springing out of people doing it themselves. Self-determination music. Build it yourself. Play it yourself. Record and mix it yourself. And so on. Hopefully the process of all that gets you to some strange and beautiful place that’s unique to you.
OS: Looking at your touring schedule there are only a select few solo performances booked. Do you envision playing these songs out live much? Is that important to you?
CC: While I have mostly collaborative playing coming up, I did do a lot of solo touring in 2023 and earlier in 2024. But it wasn’t the songs on this record, though; it was solo improvised percussion music. I’d for sure be interested to see where the material from the record would go in the hands of others, played live. Currently I’m mulling over a way to do this which doesn’t feel too much like bossing people around. A band built around stuff I wrote would be odd for me, since the overwhelming bulk of what I play is freely and collectively improvised.
OS: Is there anything you feel like you may have missed from the process of collaboratively creating and performing alongside others?
CC: Not in this case, because the solo process made the record what it is – for better or worse! [laughs]
One way to look at it is like an experiment where you’re trying to isolate one variable to better understand it: what it does, how it works, what it’s made of, etc. There was something fitting about that, considering it was recorded during a period of world-wide isolation where everybody had to figure themselves out.
I wouldn’t want to only work this way – and I’m truly thankful that I’ve been able to do plenty of collaborative gigs and records with other people since. The Key… is one of about 10 records I’m on that will come out this year, with all the rest being collaborations with other musicians. So, the solo record may provide some clues to how I move in those other situations.